Rob--

Your consideration of retaining course materials (syllabi, 
descriptions...) with respect to alumni needing proof for academic and 
professional advancement was one of the key reasons why such records were 
deemed archival at Yale. When I worked on building Yale's records 
appraisal and retention program used Helen Samuel's functional analysis, 
where she identified 7 core functions of an educational institution. One 
of the 7 is academic offerings which would envelope courses, curriculum, 
degrees. And that as a core function, records documenting the function 
ought to be appraised as archival...as proof of what the institution 
offered. When I first read Tamara's post stating that the state only gave 
7 years after obsolescence, or something like that, I scratched my head 
and thought, "Why would an educational institution destroy the records 
that are at the core of what it does?" Even beyond alumni needing proof to 
move forward in their careers, I would think the school would want to 
retain a corporate memory of its curriculum. If the obsolescence rule were 
applied at Yale, records of several now defunct programs would be gone 
(such as the Freshman Year Program, Film Program, School of Engineering, 
branch campuses in mainland China) and only exist in scattered fragments. 
There is definitely an historical value (ie. archival value) to curriculum 
records.

Stephen Cohen, Records Manager
MetLife \ Legal Affairs
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY  10036-6796
212-578-2373
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